Posted on 05/07/2012 12:16:13 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
Frustrated Greek voters on Sunday punished the country's two biggest parties. The vote represents a protest against draconian austerity and the massive influence the EU and IMF are having on the country. Even if fringe parties profited from this anger, though, no one in Greece really wants to abandon the euro.
Of course they did it. It had been clear for some time now that, during the first parliamentary election since the debt crisis struck, Greek voters would punish both of the two parties that have traditionally been the country's biggest: the conservative Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy) and the socialist PASOK. After all, the fates of these two parties are too closely linked to the country's catastrophic state.
Still, it remained unclear whether this punishment, which had been foretold in every poll, would merely be a warning issued by voters or if it would be a full-blown knockout for the two major parties.
It was something in-between the two that emerged on Sunday: A powerful flogging from voters, but not a knockout. ND remained the country's largest political force with 20.1 percent of the vote, the socialist PASOK party plunged from 44 percent to just 13.9 percent with the anti-bailout, leftist Syriza party sneaking in between the two with 16 percent of the vote. The right-wing extremist party Golden Dawn ended up with 6.8 percent and will enter parliament.
Despite heavy losses, the conservatives under Antonis Samaras emerged as the de facto victors. But without much of a plan, the party is hardly a convincing winner. Instead, Samaras insisted on his mantra "I want to govern alone" throughout much of the campaign. Having received a mere one in five votes cast, that mantra proved laughable.
The Debt Crisis Strikes Both Parties
The socialists with PASOK suffered even worse losses
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
California lite, I say
California lite?
California is a piker compared to the federal government.
Obama has borrowed/printed about $15,000 for every man, woman and child in the US since taking office with no end in sight.
That’s ten times greater per person debt than California’s budget problems.
Too bad Americans weren’t visionary enough to punish our political parties, while it was still early enough...we kept beating the dead horses and walking the globalist line. America is nearly lost as a sovereign nation.
The slothful have spoken and they want their government to spend their progeny into governmental slavery so that they themselves will not have to work. This will not end well.
So they’ve voted themselves a line of credit? Good luck with that...
so they voted for more free stuff, that someone else gets to pay for.
how very liberal of them,
They're clearly modeled after the Nazi party. That was short for National Socialist. Hardly right wing.
Golden Dawn is an anti-immigrant, nationalist, socialist party which is calling for nationalization of banks and energy sectors.
Then again, they seem to be the only party calling for expelling illegal immigrants, and not letting Greek sovereignty be absorbed by the EU.
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